The Most Interesting New Sci-Fi Books Coming Out in 2017

Award-winning authors and established book series and new sci-fi books are doing big things in 2017, and we put them all in one list!

As the next list in our 2017 Sci-Fi Addict entertainment forecast series, we searched and scoured for the best sci-fi authors releasing new sci-fi books this coming year. Hugo Awards, best-sellers, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards are all up in this list, so you know it’s going to be a good year.

The first half of the list will contain stand-alone sci-fi novels, as well as the first books in new series, so you can try something new in 2017.

The second half will list all of the new installations in well-known, well-loved sci-fi series, so you can continue your journey with characters and worlds you already love. As we find out about other new sci-fi books coming out in 2017, or as new ones are announced, we will do our best to update the list.

New Sci-Fi Books In 2017

Buettner is moving from military sci-fi to futuristic spy sci-fi, and so far it sounds awesome. When a Silicon Valley bigwig is assassinated, two people struggle to find the truth and possibly the key to eternity.

Hugo Award-winning and Nebula Award-nominated author Kameron Hurley utilizes the tried-and-true epic space opera made popular by Frank Herbert and Dan Simmons to tell the story of a seemingly endless war and a desperate plan to end it. Taking place in deep space, the novel follows a decaying fleet of “world-ships” called Legion, those who seek to destroy it, and those who aspire to use it for their own good.

This posthumously published alien abduction story takes a quirky twist on the classic theme. After an alien encounter, the lead character is left with an alien voice in her head, changing her life forever.

Award-winning author Sansbury Smith is back with a near-future apocalyptic thriller that begins when the entire USA is hit by an EMP, shutting everything down from coast to coast. Now in the darkness, the hunters become the hunted.

The book cover for Peter S. Beagle’s latest unicorn adventure, In Calabria.

In Calabria, Peter S. Beagle, January 16, 2017

The creator of the much beloved novel The Last Unicorn is back with a modern Italian spin on the unicorn tale. A poetry-loving hermit living in Calabria, Italy, comes across a “mysterious visitor” on his farm one morning that turns his whole world upside down.

A multi-award winning author brings us a post-replicator future that sounds like potential utopia, aside from all the 9-5’s. Two young adults say screw this and venture off the grid, becoming walkaway’s, and stumble across the secret to eternal life.

A Red Peace, Spencer Ellsworth, June 2017

The first book in his upcoming Starfire trilogy builds the epic world in which Ellsworth places his Russian, turn of the century space adventure. As described on Tor.com, “a galactic empire has fallen, celebrations ring outside, and the order rings out in the new corridors of power: Kill all humans.”

Austral, Paul J. McAuley, October 19, 2017

Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke, Phillip K. Dick, and John W. Campbell (I’m seeing a trend here…) Awards and author of the highly acclaimed Quiet War series, Austral is an environmentally-conscious post-apocalyptic adventure that follows Austral as she commits various crimes (including kidnapping) in an attempt to make a better life for herself.

[untitled], Andy Weir, early 2017

Andy Weir burst onto the sci-fi scene with the dramatic success of The Martian (both the novel and the movie), and is currently working on another hard sci-fi novel featuring a female lead! Unlike the Martian, it will take place on the moon. Is it safe to assume we can call it The Lunarian?

New Sci-Fi Books, Sequels and Series

Avalanche is the 3rd book 5th book (after Invasion, World Divided, Revolution, and Collision) in the Secret World Chronicles series, which is based off the City of Heroes online game. In this installment, the main characters learn that you can’t run from your past.

1636: Mission to the Mughals, Eric Flint, January 3, 2017

The 22nd book in the multiple New York Times best-selling series follows the residents of Grantville, West Virginia as they adapt to their lives in 1636 Europe. In an attempt to create modern medicines, some residents travel to India to form mutually beneficial trade relations and accidentally embroil themselves in an incipient war between the Mughal Empire of India and the newly conceived Sikh faith.

As many thrifty readers may know, Amazon is a treasure trove of free or very cheap e-books available to read on your phone, Kindle, or online. However, due to the ease of self-publication, the treasure trove doubles as a garbage barge, piled high with bad alien porn and Twilight fan-fiction disguised as real books. It’s taken me years of being a poor college student to set my dignity aside and search desperately for free e-books that don’t suck, because sometimes as a book-addict, you gotta choose between another value-pack of [Click here to read more…]

Forstchen, author of the highly-acclaimed New York Times best-selling novel One Second After is about to release the 3rd novel in the John Matherson series. In this installation, the survivors of the EMP-initiated apocalypse attempt to rebuild society and technology as the government gives away chunks of the ex-USA to China and Russia.

The members of the UN are kidnapped by radical terrorists, and Captain Ezekiel Fortunes is called to the rescue. “Zeke” is a genetically modified super soldier who meets a super spy along the way, running from people who would harness his power for evil.

Nnedi Okorafor began writing the sequel to Hugo Award winning novella, Binti simply because she loved the world and characters in it and couldn’t let them go. There is a third book coming along soon, so start reading now!

The author of the Hugo Award-winning Downbelow Station, Cherryh brings us the 18th installation of her Foreigner series which follows Bren, a human diplomat for an alien race, who is trying to save what’s left of humanity by providing them a home as refugees on another world.

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Nancy Kress will release the sequel to her 2014 hit novel Yesterday’s Kin. The aliens have landedand they are very picky about who they speak to. Scientist Dr. Jenner is chosen to visit the alien embassy, where they discover the horrifying truth, leaving them with only 10 months to save the world.

The Brightest Fell, Seanan McGuire, September 2017

Any sci-fi that takes their title from Shakespeare is already on my must-read list. Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire will release The Brightest Fell as the 11th book in her October Daye series.

[untitled], Alastair Reynolds, 2017

Another Hugo Award-winning author (plus many more awards), Reynolds will be publishing the sequel to his novel, The Prefect sometime in 2017.

Which of the 2017 new sci-fi books are you most excited for? Which new book sounds like it’d make a good series? Also, let us know if we missed any new sci-fi books that should be on the list. We’d love to hear from you!

Carly Courtney graduated summa cum laude from Sierra Nevada College with her BFA in Creative Writing. Focused mainly on creative nonfiction and journalistic pursuits, she has a lifelong passion for nerdy and alternative culture. Her blood is composed mainly of stale coffee and she loves reading and discovering new sci-fi movies and novels.